My Request For Press Credentials To The G20 Summit That’s Happening Less Than A Mile From Me Were Rejected

So you know that big G20 tech innovation summit that’s happening now? It’ s called the G20 Innovation Ministerial and it’s got a lot of global big machers getting together to discuss AI and related issues. They’ve got speakers like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg (remotely) and Sam Altman of OpenAI and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (physically) here to tell us why AI is so damn great and how we can all help make these guys even richer, or something like that.

More importantly, though, this event is happening in Chapel Hill, NC, within easy walking distance from my house. That’s unusual for a G20 summit! It’s being held at the Carolina Inn, a fancy and fussy old-school establishment that is more known for having a lawn full of people in Carolina blue sportcoats and dresses getting liquored up for college sports-related reasons or because they’re rich families that are having lunch with a kid either graduating or being put on academic probation at the University of North Carolina right behind them.

Anyway, because this thing is happening so close by, and it’s all about AI stuff that we’ve addressed here before that is definitely affecting the automotive space in significant ways, I figured I should at least try and see if I can get a press credential and perhaps, you know cover the story. So I applied! And then got this:

Aw, man, rejected! What the hell? I’m a real journalist! At least, close enough, right? I think the issue may have come from their demand that I provide proof of accreditation. Accreditation? For what? And by whom? And how? Who provides accreditation for automotive journalists? The ghost of Tom McCahill? I don’t have any relationship with a third party that provides any sort of accreditation, so I did the next best thing: I made one up.

I mean, that seems pretty official, right? The International Association of Independent Automotive Journalists seems like just the sort of staid, trustworthy organization I can trust. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that reference number the same number from that song.

I guess they weren’t buying it. I don’t see why fabricating some bullshit accreditation out of lies and pixels should disqualify me from getting a press pass, but, you know, whatever. I didn’t really want to listen to all those jackasses go on and on about how AI is unquestionably amazing and hear some ex recto predictions from Elon, like when he said this:

“This is one I would be willing to put serious money betting on, that there will be at least a billion robots in 10 years, and that those robots will be at least five times the output of a human. Meaning that a billion humanoid robots will be more productive than all humans combined.”

Yeah, okay, buddy. I’ll be excited to see those billion humanoid robots running around being productive as I hover by in my lovely new Tesla Roadster, which Elon said would be out in 2020, go from 0-60 in under a second, and hover or some shit.

You can watch the first day’s summit here if you want, which I suspect you don’t:

It also seems that a set of AI policies that advocate for minimal regulation were proposed at the summit, and are being called, collectively, the Carolina Principles, which I’m not crazy about. This all sort of feels like we’re putting mustard on our butts in preparation to be bitten on the ass by AI.

Let’s end this with some kind of tenuous automotive tie-in, at least. The G20 Innovation Ministerial, huh? You know who else had a G20 something? Infiniti!

Remember the G20? Infiniti had this car as their entry-level offering from around 1990 to 2002, over a couple generations of design. These weren’t bad cars, but not especially exciting, being essentially a re-badged Nissan Primera. You could get one with a manual and have a nice little premium sporty four door sedan, if you so chose! Who would stop you?

And, this car gave us one of the only opportunities to see actor Jonathan Price in a hard hat:

See, this is the kind of work that gets you an accreditation from the International Association of Independent Automotive Journalists. If you don’t believe me, look above: I have my certificate right here!